June Allyson

            On Sunday morning I memorized the ninth verse of “C’est le Bebop” by Boris Vian. There are five verses left to learn. 

            I finished transcribing the chords for “Glass securit” (Security Glass) by Serge Gainsbourg that were on Ultimate Guitar and looked for more but there were no more posted. I worked out the chords for the intro and part of the first line of the chorus but they don’t match those that are on Ultimate Guitar. They hear E to A minor while I hear F to B flat. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the first of two sessions. 

            I weighed 87.3 kilos before breakfast. 

            I read another 10% of The Buried Giant. 

            I weighed 87.4 kilos before lunch. I had Triscuits with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of lemonade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 86.3 kilos at 17:15. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:20. 

            I finished reading The Buried Giant. Axl and Beatrice arrive at the top of the mountain around the same time as Sir Gawain. Wistan and Edwin get there shortly after. Gawain reveals that his mission is not to slay the dragon but to protect it. After the war Merlin cast a spell on the dragon’s breath so that it would expel a mist that made people forget their reasons for fighting. He argues that the dragon will die of old age soon anyway and so why not let it live? But Wistan is determined and both Axl and Beatrice agree with him. Gawain and Wistan fight an honourable sword duel and Gawain dies. Wistan enters the cave and cuts off the dragon’s head. He then says that now there will be a Saxon conquest of Britain. Axl and Beatrice begin descending the mountain but Beatrice is very ill and Axl is too old to safely carry her. A boatman offers help and he’s the same boatman they met earlier. He offers to take them both to the island and determines that he knows they care about one another enough to be together on the other side. But nonetheless he can only take one at a time. Axl doesn’t want to let her go but Beatrice says it’s okay. We don’t know if Axl will wait for the boat to return because that’s the end. 

            I read part of the essay “Introduction” to Ruins of Modernity, by Julia Hell and Andreas Schonle. It speculates on why we are so fascinated with ruins. 

            I made pizza on naan with Basilica sauce, a chopped pork burger, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 1, episode 14 of Burke’s Law. 

            Burke is at a pool party thrown by Victor Haggerty where the young and handsome artist Beau Sparrow tries out a new invention that is supposed to catapult him into the pool. It is not a smooth dive and he comes up floating after cardiac arrest. Because Victor is a hypochondriac he always has his doctor nearby. The doctor tries to save Beau but he dies. Because Beau was in perfect health, Burke investigates the possibility of foul play. Tim says some bolts are loose on the catapult. The lab can’t figure out what caused his death. One of the party guests was Countess Erozzi and Burke goes to see her. She says she wasn’t Beau’s only lover. There was also Victor’s secretary Jean Samson. At Beau’s studio there’s a paint gun full of green paint but Tim says green would be a bad choice for a small studio. Burke goes to see Jean. She says she had no romantic interest in Beau but merely saw his potential as an artist. He goes to see Charles Banner, the designer of the catapult. He says Victor’s doctor finds his hypochondria profitable. Burke asks Victor if he can speak with his wife. While he’s there Jean comes in with some papers for Victor. Burke asks her for a date. He goes to talk with Liz Haggerty and charms her with his knowledge of her Pekinese dogs. She says she loved Beau. Burke comes to Jean’s apartment and she says she thought he was joking about dinner but she has steaks to grill anyway. They start to kiss but then he learns that Victor was seeing the countess and he leaves to talk with him. Victor says he supported the countess because she’d been disowned by the count. Burke talk’s with Liz’s secretary. She says Liz wanted a divorce. Burke goes back to Jean and apologizes. They begin kissing again but Tim comes to tell him Liz tried to commit suicide with sleeping pills. Burke finds out Liz was giving a lot of money to Beau. He tells her Victor loves her. He goes to see the countess and learns she was giving Beau money too. She says she was angry enough to kill him but didn’t. She says he knows a woman like her could never love anyone and that’s why he should know she didn’t kill him. Les finds that no one tampered with the catapult. They are all just poorly made. They go back to Beau’s studio. Burke figures something out about the paint gun with green lead paint in it. Burke rushes to Victor where he is receiving oxygen by his doctor but Burke tears off the mask. He puts a flame next to the tank nozzle and nothing happens. He says it’s nitrogen, which is not poison but cuts off the oxygen. Charles says Beau borrowed a nitrogen tank from him last week. Nitrogen tanks are grey but Beau painted it green like an oxygen tank. Beau wanted to kill Victor to marry Liz. Beau accidentally killed himself when he was given what they thought was oxygen after his accident in the pool. 

            Jean was played by June Allyson, who had an accident at the age of eight that put her in a steel brace for four years. Swimming therapy gave her back her mobility and she began dancing. Her first job was as a tap dancer at the Lido Club in Montreal. Her Broadway debut was Sing Out the News in 1938. She had a brief relationship with John F. Kennedy before he was president. She could cry on cue. She co-starred in Best Foot Forward, Two Girls and a Sailor, Little Women, The Secret Heart, The McConnell Story, The Shrike, Meet the People, Her Highness and the Bellboy, The Sailor Takes a Wife, Two Sisters from Boston, High Barbaree, Good News, The Bride Goes Wild, The Stratton Story, The reformer and the Redhead, Right Cross, The Girl in White, Battle Circus, Remains to be Seen, The Glen Miller Story, Executive Suite, Woman’s World, Strategic Air Command, Interlude, My Man Godfrey, A Stranger in My Arms, Curse of the Black Widow, and The Opposite Sex. She played a 14 year old girl at the age of 34 in Too Young to Kiss. She hosted The Dupont Show with June Allyson from 1959 to 1961. The character of Amy in Joan Blondell’s novel Centre Door Fancy was based on her. She said men desired Cyd Charisse but she was the girl next door they’d take home to mother. In later years she became a spokesperson for Depends.